One of the Secrets from Eight Hundred Years Ago: David Jones!

With Cobra's order, the guards at his side swiftly charged toward Vikengam's group.

The two men leading them, who looked like captain-level guards in their fifties, transformed as they ran.

By the time they passed through the royal mausoleum gates, one had turned into a jackal, while the other had taken to the air in the form of a falcon.

There was no doubt that both of them were Zoan-type Devil Fruit users!

"Rebels, surrender your lives!"

"How dare you offend the royal family? You have chosen death!"

But before the two could even get close to Vikengam and the others, a biting chill suddenly erupted and swept past them in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, the two Zoan users had turned into ice statues, frozen where they stood beneath the scorching sun.

At the same time, the Alabasta royal guards charging in behind them were frozen one after another. Only Cobra remained unfrozen. Still riding his camel and unable to stop in time, he slipped across the ice and went tumbling head over heels.

A moment later, Cobra came to a miserable sliding stop beside the ice-carved sun chair Vikengam was sitting on and demanded angrily, "Who are you people?!"

Watching this, Roger said, "Hey, hey, don't freeze them all to death. We are sort of in the wrong here, after all..."

Roger was not truly a good man, but neither was he an utterly depraved brute. As a pirate, he had led the Roger Pirates through countless raids and plunders; that much was beyond doubt.

Although battles against powerful enemies might have harmed innocent people, and there was no excusing that, the Roger Pirates did have a very strict rule: they would never deliberately rob civilians or nobles recognized by civilians.

In the original story, after Kozuki Oden joined the Roger Pirates, he had once raided civilians on an island. Jaba had sternly warned him that if Captain Roger found out he had robbed civilians, Roger would definitely beat him senseless.

But later, they discovered that the people he had robbed were not civilians, but a group of villains, so it was fine.

Still, that showed that Roger's crew really did have rules like that.

Vikengam's account of Alabasta's history and the Nefertari Family, along with what they had seen throughout this desert kingdom, made Roger feel that this royal family, which often proposed abolishing the Heavenly Tribute system, ought to be a good one. He did not want to hurt them.

"Don't worry. I'm just cooling them down a little. They won't die," Vikengam replied casually.

Then he rose to his feet. Rather than looking at Cobra, he walked over to the frozen jackal and falcon with great interest and said, "Legend says that since more than four thousand years ago, the great Jackal God and Falcon God have guarded the Kingdom of Alabasta to this day..."

At the same time, Cobra seemed to recognize them. His eyes widened in shock and fury as he said, "You're the Roger Pirates? Why have villains like you come to Alabasta?"

But clearly, no one wanted to pay him any attention. Roger and the others continued digging, while Shakky, who had been fanning Rayleigh, asked curiously, "More than four thousand years ago? Are you saying those two Zoan users have lived that long? That can't be possible, can it?"

"Of course not." Vikengam shook his head.

As he remembered it, the later users of the jackal and falcon powers were Pell and Chaka. Clearly, judging by the current situation, these two people he had frozen were users from the previous generation.

Yet Alabasta's legend had endured and been widely accepted for thousands of years. Combined with the current situation, that became very interesting.

Everyone knew that after a Devil Fruit user died, their Devil Fruit would be "reborn" somewhere in the world.

Yet Alabasta had always retained the jackal and falcon powers. What did that mean? It meant they might possess some special technique for ensuring the stable inheritance of Devil Fruit powers!

"Does your Nefertari Family possess some special ancient technique? For example, one that can control the stable inheritance of certain Devil Fruits?" Vikengam turned to ask Cobra, who was struggling to climb back to his feet from the ice.

"You think I'd answer you?" Cobra snapped angrily.

"Tch. Aren't you a cocky little brat? Can't you see the situation? Believe me, if you annoy me, I'll freeze them all to death." Vikengam looked at Cobra.

He was already in his early twenties, so calling Cobra a little brat was completely fair.

Just then, Roger drove his shovel through the thick sand, exposing the hard stone beneath. Rayleigh then smashed through the stone with a hoe, revealing a dark underground opening before them.

"Oh! We broke through! There really is something here!" Roger shouted excitedly.

If not for the fact that this was someone else's ancestral tomb, and that excessive destruction might cause the underground palace to collapse, Roger and the others could have blasted through it with a single attack.

Without wasting any time, Roger was the first to jump down. Before Vikengam could stop him, Jaba jumped in after him.

"Hey, wait!" Vikengam shouted. "It's dangerous!"

Sure enough, the underground palace had been sealed for centuries. The state of its air was obvious enough. The moment Roger and Jaba landed, they took two breaths and immediately felt dizzy and lightheaded, as though they were about to pass out.

After hearing Vikengam's explanation, Rayleigh quickly found a way to fan fresh air inside, easing the awkward situation.

A few minutes later, Vikengam and the others finally went down as well, bringing along Cobra, who was equally shocked that there was an underground palace here.

In truth, the kings of the Nefertari Family passed down the secret of this place from generation to generation. But Cobra's father was still in his prime. As a fourteen-year-old prince, Cobra had not yet reached the age to be told about it, which was why he was so puzzled by the mysterious underground palace beneath the royal cemetery.

Soon, the group lit lamps, passed through the underground palace's complex tunnels, and reached its depths.

There, sure enough, stood a Poneglyph.

"What is this?!" Cobra stared at the Poneglyph in shock.

"It records some secrets from eight hundred years ago. Your Nefertari Family has been hiding this thing, which already counts as breaking World Government law..." Vikengam said as he approached the Poneglyph and carefully studied the Ancient Language carved upon it.

"Eight hundred years ago? A Poneglyph?" Cobra froze for a moment.

Clearly, he was not completely ignorant. As the heir to one of humanity's oldest nations, he naturally received relevant historical education.

And the education of Nefertari heirs had always included certain... secrets.

"What does it say? Is there any valuable information?" Roger asked as he closed his eyes, trying to listen for something.

But his Voice of All Things did not work every time. Otherwise, in the original story, he would not have needed to specifically seek out Kozuki Oden's help.

Vikengam studied the writing, his expression turning solemn as he translated, "It was a masterpiece created by countless skilled craftsmen, a weapon of war forged in Water 7, and a new power we used to oppose the terrifying weapon Uranus. We named it 'Pluton,' and it may have been the most terrifying warship in the world. Its power was no weaker than the Uranus held by Laugh Tale. With a single strike, it could completely erase a massive island from this world. But back then, we focused only on building this warship and overlooked the threat it might pose to the world.

"And now, clearly, someone has set their sights on Pluton's power. It is that traitor!

"We were once companions who defeated Davy D. Jones together, yet now the traitor wishes to seize the fruits of victory. But the temptation of power has blinded many of our former comrades, leading them to stand by his side. I no longer know whom I can trust. Perhaps Lily can be trusted? No, the Kozuki Family as well. I believe that once we fail, the traitors will soon bury us in history. That is why we created these stones to record the current situation. Pluton indeed possesses terrifying power. I originally wished to destroy it completely, but considering Uranus's disappearance, perhaps hiding this power away and leaving it for the future is not a bad choice?

"Leave it in Wano Country—Joy Boy."